I found most interesting what he said about the dynamic involved between middle linebacker Max Morgan and weak side linebacker Aaron Davis, both seniors and the Rams’ top two leading tacklers the past two seasons. Through nine games, Davis has 90 tackles (45 unassisted, 45 assisted) and Morgan has 70 (38-32).

FORT COLLINS — As Colorado State president Tony Frank prepares to make a recommendation to the system’s board in December about whether to move forward with the on-campus stadium project or commit to sticking with Hughes Stadium, this might be a hint of what is coming: The university officially is inviting community members to tour Hughes Stadium at 1 p.m. on Nov. 18.

(I’ll let you in a little secret: Another way to take a tour is to attend a game.)

Garrett Grayson threw for five touchdowns against Wyoming. (Andy Cross, The Denver Post)

FORT COLLINS — Garrett Grayson knew he was going to be asked, whether by his coach or pesky media members.

So the Colorado State quarterback, who had no idea who Willis Reed was when Jim McElwain alluded to the former Knicks center’s gutty effort in Game 7 of the 1970 NBA finals Saturday night in San Jose, had done his homework before practice Tuesday.

“I Googled it and everything, so we’re good,” Grayson said after practice.

Then he was told that McElwain had just brought up a ’70s television character, Fred Sanford, when talking about how Grayson looked Tuesday. (“He had some Fred Sanford moments…”) So now Grayson has more homework to do about “Sanford and Son”.

On the injury front, Grayson said of the groin injury that hampered him during the win at San Jose State: “I’m fine. I’m limited, as you guys obviously have seen, but it’s gotten better every day. Where I’m at compared to where I was Sunday, it’s completely night and day difference. Sunday I was having a hard time running around and all that stuff, and out here, I’m jogging around, throwing, everything. I’m not like Saturday, where I was throwing off one leg and things like that.”

a) Lost a smidgen — that’s a technical football term — of speed since his time as one of the top high school recruits in the country, and his first days at Alabama before he suffered serious knee injuries; and,

b) Mitigated that some by being a tough runner who doesn’t just avoid shying away from contact, but often senses its inevitability and uncoils, even initiating the hit.

At first, at least stylistically, I thought of Walter Payton, who was of a similar fearless style. Payton didn’t consider gingerly stepping out of bounds to be an option. My father spent three seasons as the Chicago Bears’ offensive line coach during Payton’s prime, and he always considered Payton the “best football player” he ever was around. To veteran football men, or even those who intuitively understand the game, “football player” isn’t a cliche; it’s the ultimate compliment. There are a lot of guys in the Hall of Fame who weren’t “football players.” Read more…

FORT COLLINS — Colorado State guard Mason Myers started and played much of the game Saturday at San Jose State, with Nick Callender spelling him. That was a bit of a surprise after Myers suffered a knee injury on Oct. 18 against Utah State and then then missed the Wyoming game the next week.

CSU coach Jim McElwain early in the week said Myers probably would be available for emergency duty, but it turned out to be more than that.

“I was scared at first,” Myers said of his injury on Monday. “But Terry (DeZeeuw, the trainer) made sure I knew what was going on, the plan of attack and how I was going to get better. He and the staff definitely helped me and pushed me to get back as quick as I could, helping me get better.”

Myers, a redshirt senior, has been an important part of a rebuilt offensive line that not only has survived losing four starters from a year ago, but then also lost presumed starting right tackle Mason Hathaway in the preseason and then starting center Jake Bennett after three games, both to knee injuries. Read more…

Colorado State University offensive coordinator Dave Baldwin walks off the practice field with the team Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2014 on the campus of Colorado State University in Fort Collins. Baldwin was a head coach and offensive coordinator for several teams including San Jose State, Michigan State and Utah State before joining the Rams. (Brent Lewis, The Denver Post)

SAN JOSE — Saturday’s Colorado State game at Spartan Stadium is a homecoming of sorts for three Rams’ staff members.

Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Dave Baldwin, above, was the Spartans’ head coach from 1997-2000, after serving as wide receivers coach from 1984-88.

The “deck” head said: “Undefeated Colorado State and Duke are two of this season’s surprise teams, but the continued success of their programs may depend on whether they can keep their coaches”

And the byline was … mine.

Maybe the “undefeated” or the picture of Sonny Lubick here gave it away, but I wrote the story when I was at The Sporting News, and it ran over three pages in 1994. I was reminded of it again when I noticed that, in addition to Colorado State’s surprising showing this season, Duke is 6-1 and ranked 24th in both the Associated Press and USA Today/coaches polls.

A sold out crowd was on hand for the Colorado State Rams’ game against the Wyoming Cowboys at Hughes Stadium Saturday, Oct. 25, 2014. (Andy Cross, The Denver Post)

FORT COLLINS — The CSU women’s volleyball team improved to 22-1, tailgating for Saturday night’s Border War between CSU and Wyoming is in full swing, and it’s also “Pink Out” for breast cancer awareness here at Hughes Stadium. The color scheme — brown for Wyoming, green for Colorado State and gold thrown in on both sides — is a bit jarring.

It looks as if fans are heeding CSU officials’ recommendation to leave earlier and arrive earlier than for the Utah State game last week, also a scheduled 5 p.m. start.

FORT COLLINS — The Colorado State Rams continued to walk past the Bronze Boot — the trophy in the Border War — as they headed to and from practice Wednesday.

“It means a lot to me,” quarterback Garrett Grayson said of the rivalry. “Coming from Washington, it took me a while to get the respect for it, to see how serious people take it in Fort Collins and throughout Colorado and Wyoming. I had no idea they were rivals when I first came here. Playing in the first game against them at the end of my freshman year, that’s when it sunk in. We lost and I could see a lot of the fans, their reaction. It means a lot to them. It’s very important to get a win out of this.” Read more…

FORT COLLINS — When Jim McElwain came to Colorado State, he assembled a largely veteran staff with varied experiences. The only assistant he’s lost since arriving is Billy Napier, now at Alabama as wide receivers coach.

Last week, I wrote a feature on Dave Baldwin, the former San Jose State head coach who serves McElwain as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

On Wednesday, McElwain’s co-defensive coordinators, Marty English and Al Simmons, met with us as part of the weekly availability for selected assistant coaches in rotation through the season. English and Simmons seem comfortable with the shared responsibility and title, and English also coaches linebackers, while Simmons also coaches defensive backs. Read more…

Colorado State’s Rashard Higgins makes a catch in the final seconds between Utah State’s Frankie Sutera, left, and Jalen Davis during an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 18, 2014, in Fort Collins. Colorado State won 16-13. (Erin Hull, The Coloradoan)

Higgins had 10 catches against Utah State, including the 46-yard reception in the final minute that set up the game-winning field goal. For the season, he has 54 receptions for 963 yards and 10 touchdowns.

He is second nationally to West Virginia’s Kevin White in two categories. White has 145.7 receiving yards per game, Higgins 137.6. White has 1,020 yards receiving, or 57 more than Higgins. Higgins’ 10 TD receptions are second only to Colorado’s Nelson Spruce, who has 11.

Hughes Stadium east stands and east parking lot at 5:25 p.m., early in the first quarter (Terry Frei, Denver Post)

AFTERNOON: The word has come down from Fort Collins: The Colorado State vs. Utah State game at 5 p.m. is a sellout. Athletic department officials are urging fans to arrive earlier than usual because of the potential backups in entering the stadium.

This is CSU’s first sellout since Oct. 22, 2004. That day, the crowd was 30,108 in the then-30,000-seat stadium. The Rams beat Wyoming 30-7. CSU’s most recent home crowd of 30,000-plus was 30,027 against Boise State on Oct. 15, 2011. Also, CSU said this was only the second advance sellout in school history, after the Sept. 14, 2002 game against Louisville that drew 31,607.

UPDATE: Man, they weren’t kidding. There were pockets of stop and go from Longmont on up, but since Northern Colorado traffic has become Houston North, that wasn’t surprising. I came across Prospect to access the north gate for the press parking … and crawled (if that) from Shields on. And this was over two hours before the game.

I know this is completely useless to anyone who anyone who isn’t coming to the game, but perhaps you’re coming to the game and can read this because someone else is driving OR YOU’RE STOPPED IN TRAFFIC.

My feature on Colorado State volleyball libero Jaime Colaizzi is in the Friday paper and online.

Calaizzi had 15 digs as the Rams, ranked sixth in the country, easily beat New Mexico, the Mountain West Conference’s second place team, on the road in three sets Thursday (25-17, 25-23, 25-22) to improve to 19-1 for the season. The Lobos’ only other loss at home this season is to No. 2 Texas.

The Rams now have won 14 consecutive matches and are at Air Force Friday.

This didn’t make the story, but here’s what Colaizzi said of the Rams’ quest to win a sixth straight Mountain West Conference title and advance deep into the NCAA tournament: “I think it’s yet to be seen what we can accomplish. I think we had a great preseason, and that’s when we all realized how good we can be. I think this team has a lot of chemistry. Being ranked sixth is huge, but we have a lot of work left to do.”

Colorado State tight end Nolan Peralta runs against Tulsa during the fourth quarter of a college football game Saturday, Oct. 4, 2014, in Fort Collins. (Jack Dempsey, The Associated Press)

I’ve got a feature on CSU tight ends Nolan Peralta and Steven Walker in the Wednesday paper and here.

The Mountain West Conference Tuesday announced that Peralta won’t be allowed to play in the first half of Saturday’s game against Utah State “for targeting and initiating forcible contact against an opponent with the crown of the helmet” in the Rams’ Saturday night win over Nevada.

The league announcement noted: “The disciplinary action is a result of the weekly review conducted by the Mountain West office of all player safety fouls and falls under NCAA Football Playing Rule 9-6-2. The Mountain West will have no further comment regarding this matter.”

Colorado State’s Adrianna Culbert tracks down the ball during a game against Fresno State on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2013 at Moby Arena. (Steve Stoner, Loveland Reporter-Herald)

FORT COLLINS — On Monday, Colorado State opposite hitter Adrianna Culbert — a junior from Delton, Mich. — was named the Mountain West Conference’s volleyball player of the week and the 18-1 Rams jumped a spot in the latest coaches’ poll, to No. 6. And then on Tuesday, she was named ESPNw’s national player of the week.

Culbert is the fourth different Ram in five weeks to be selected for the MW honor, following Kelsey Snider, Marlee Reynolds and Deedra Foss. This is the third time Culbert has won the league honor in her career.

CSU beat Wyoming and Fresno State last week and Culbert averaged 3.0 kills per set in the two matches.

Karen and Mark Sambrailo at the CSU parents’ and fans’ tailgate outside Mackay Stadium. Ty’s older brother, Erik, is in the gold Sambrailo jersey at right and his sister, Kiersten, is in white facing the camera (or at least the phone).

RENO — My pre-game story from the late Nevada-Colorado State matchup is posted here, and it will run through early editions. It was a lot of fun to do, since I visited the Sambrailo family tailgate north of Mackay Stadium and talked with the parents of the Rams’ standout left tackle, Ty Sambrailo.

And in the glare of the late afternoon sunlight, these are the photos I came up with, using my cell phone.

OK, this shows why we have the true pros, the real photographers, on the staff.

Mark and Karen at their truck, with the sign advertising their tailgate. That’s Mark’s CU pole vault in the truck, and the CSU flag is atop it.

RENO — I admit this surprised me: The legal Nevada sports books — and there’s one in the hotel where the Rams are staying — accepts wagers on Nevada college football games, including the Nevada-Colorado State game tonight.

That’s the line on the college football sheet above. Of course, it’s the same information available in newspapers and various mainstream media online sites, so the type shouldn’t be in scarlet letters or anything.

FORT COLLINS — Jim McElwain has mentioned this before, but I asked the former Alabama offensive coordinator Monday if his Colorado State program is getting continued support — from afar — from the Crimson Tide constituency.

I brought it up again not only because of McElwain’s tie to the Alabama program, but because running back Dee Hart transferred to CSU from Alabama for a second start and has been doing well. Hart has rushed for more than 100 yards in three of the Rams’ five games and has gained 452 yards on 61 carries this season.

“You talk about people who love college football and have a passion for it,” McElwain said. “And once you’ve been part of that, you become part of their fabric. The congratulations, and to see Dee doing what he’s doing, and the people who send to my email and whatever … all the social media sites. We have more followers from Alabama than we do from Colorado State.”

At that point, he laughed and added, “So let’s call it the way it is. And that’s a cool thing. (Hart) gave them a lot and they’re excited for his success.”

Kensler joined The Denver Post in 1989 and has covered a variety of beats, including Colorado, Colorado State, golf, Olympics and the Denver Broncos. His brush with greatness: losing in a two-on-two pickup basketball game at Ohio State against two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin.

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.